


A Moment Of Comfort And Respite

by afteriwake



Series: nongentorum [19]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Amused Peggy, Children, Compassionate Steve, Encouragement, F/M, Fluff, Kissing, POV Peggy Carter, Post-Serum Steve Rogers, Steve And Children, Steve Feels, Steve Rogers Feels, Steve Rogers Is a Good Bro, Touched Peggy, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-06-09 12:15:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 900
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6906709
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a successful mission, Peggy catches Steve interacting with the village's children, and a conversation he has with one child in particular touches her heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Moment Of Comfort And Respite

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CreativeReading](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CreativeReading/gifts).



> So this fic was written as thanks for **CreativeReading** for her help in getting me a deleted scene I needed for a commission I was given that I simply could not find. She wanted me to write her another Steve/Peggy fic, and after I told her the first sentence I was going to use in this one she said " _I can totally see Peggy saying that to Steve after he's given all his wartime chocolate away to some kids he's met on the street after he's rescued their village._ " And thus this fic came about! Once again, thank you so much, hun, and I hope you enjoy!

“You shouldn’t be trusted with small children, should you?” Peggy observed the cluster of small children around Steve with a fond smile. She knew he had probably talked an entire battalion of soldiers out of their rations of chocolate just before this mission and all of that chocolate was currently being handed out to this gaggle of children surrounding him. It was typical Steve, she supposed.

To be honest, if he hadn’t, she would have been quite disappointed.

He flashed her a wide grin as he handed a small sack to the oldest child, a girl of about twelve, and leaned over to whisper something in her ear. She nodded vigorously, and then she yelled for all the children to follow her. Most did, but one little girl leaning on a homemade wooden crutch held back. She made her way over to Steve, who stayed squatting down, waiting.

“You are Captain America?” she asked, her English heavily accented.

Steve nodded. “I am,” he said.

“You were...once like me?” the girl asked.

“I didn’t have a crutch, but I had braces on my legs,” Steve said. He looked up at Peggy, who crossed her arms but nodded for him to go on. She’d been sent to retrieve him for Colonel Phillips but she had the feeling it could wait, that this was vastly more important. He got out of his squatting position and sat on his arse in the dirt. “Not only that, but before I became Captain America, I had or had had asthma, anemia, diabetes, scoliosis, a heart murmur, sinusitis, rheumatic fever, scarlet fever, chronic colds, high blood pressure, heart palpitations, nervous troubles, and I was colorblind. It seemed like there were nine hundred different things wrong with me. On top of it all, my ma had died of tuberculosis.”

Peggy’s eyes widened slightly. She knew he had been sickly, and quite so, but she hadn’t realized _exactly_ how much. She was honestly surprised he’d managed to survive basic training. And apparently the little girl agreed when she piped up, “And you didn’t die?”

Steve shook his head. “It’s because I was stubborn,” he said. “I knew that I could do big things, and if I succumbed to being sick, I’d never get to do those great things.” He gestured to her crutch. “And you’re stubborn too, I bet. You want to run around and play with your friends, don’t you?”

She nodded. “I do, but they run off without me.”

“I don’t know if you’ll always need the crutch,” Steve said, “but you’ll compensate. You’ll adapt. You’ll figure out ways to keep up because you’re stubborn. And when this is all over, you’ll get to have a life where you’ll have fun again.” He reached over and held the girl’s free hand for a moment. “I promise.”

The girl gave him a wide smile, and then reached over and wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you, Captain America,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” he said, hugging her back. When he let go, he reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a bit of wrapped taffy and handed it to her, leaning in more. “This is my favorite candy. It’s salt water taffy from the Jersey Shore in the United States. We just got some a few days ago and I haven’t even shared any with my girl over there.” He gestured to Peggy. “So you’re more special than Agent Carter. But don’t let on, okay?” The little girl giggled, then took the taffy and leaned over and kissed his cheek before moving away to go join her friends.

Peggy smiled at him as he got up and brushed the dirt off his backside. “I do hope there is _some_ taffy for me back at base?” she asked.

“Maybe I can spare a little,” he said with a grin of his own. “If Dum Dum hasn’t found my stash and eaten it all yet.”

She chuckled at that. “Oh yes. His sweet tooth is a bit legendary.” She moved closer to him. “That was quite lovely what you did for her, giving her hope like that, and encouragement.”

“Well if we can’t do that, then what are we really doing here?” he asked, looking over at her. “I mean, why are we fighting this war? We need to give people hope.”

She nodded. “Yes, we do,” she said. After a moment, she reached over for his hand and then stopped, turning to face him. He looked at her, a bit confused. “You give me hope, Steve. Have I ever told you that?”

He shook his head. “No,” he said, playing with her fingers for a moment. A nervous habit, she supposed. 

“You do. You give me hope that maybe all of this will work out well, that we’ll be triumphant, and that perhaps we can be...happy, when this is all over,” she said.

“We being us?” he asked quietly.

She nodded. “I had thought so.”

He gave her a smile and then stepped closer, using his other hand to caress her face gently. “I think I would like to be happy with you, when this is all over,” he said quietly.

“Good,” she said before closing the gap and kissing him softly. She knew they had things to do, but for now, she could lose herself in his kiss and all was right in her world.


End file.
